


The Peculiar Procural of Blossoms

by missmichellebelle



Series: by the wick of a candle [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, EreRi Week 2016, Established Relationship, Fluff, Language of Flowers, M/M, Magic, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6798940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmichellebelle/pseuds/missmichellebelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you know what peach blossoms mean?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Peculiar Procural of Blossoms

**Author's Note:**

> for Ereri Week 2k16's second prompt, **Cherry Blossoms/Flowers**.
> 
> I went with peach blossoms, though, for reasons that will become apparent in the fic itself. xD
> 
> I wrote this late, late last night, after work and before bed, because I'm gone all day today and I wanted to get something out. it's very different from my original idea, but I wasn't too attached to that one and, well, Bri challenged me to write all of the week's prompts in this verse so I figured I would try (so long as I wasn't _too_ fond of my original idea).
> 
> so short and sweet, but hopefully still mildly satisfying. <3

“Do you know what peach blossoms mean?” Eren asks him as he works, deft fingers picking the small white petals from the flowering branch. He works quickly, and Levi watches him as he plucks them into a bowl, the motion repetitive enough to suggest that this ritual has been done many, many times.

Levi finds that, as unsettling as the whole witch thing still is to him at times, he really enjoys watching Eren practice. There’s something calming about it, but that might just be Eren’s presence.

Or perhaps something in the tea, even though Eren is happy (and even eager) to tell him exactly what’s in the strange concoctions he serves to Levi these days.

Levi picks up an errant petal on the tip of his finger, and it’s stark even against his pale skin.

“No,” he replies. He doesn’t know what any of the ingredients Eren uses means. Especially since they all seem to have _multiple_ meanings. “What, exactly, are you doing, anyway?”

Eren pauses in his work, hands stilling against the peach tree branch he’s slowly been plucking bare. He looks up, regarding Levi for a second before reaching across his work bench and pressing his finger to Levi’s cheek.

He can feel the petal that clings to his skin, pressed there by Eren’s touch.

“Picking the petals from the branch,” he states, shit-eating grin drawing a scowl from Levi. “The same thing I’ve been doing for the last two hours.”

Holy shit, has it really been that long? It’s starting to concern Levi, where his brain wanders off to these days. Especially when there’s fucking _magic_ involved.

“Fucking obviously,” Levi mutters, not amused by Eren’s stupid response of the stupid flower speck sticking to his skin. “What _for_?” He reaches up to brush the plant matter away.

“Oh. Right.” Eren laughs and shakes his head, flicking the hair from his eyes. The whole series of motions catches Levi off-guard, the way Eren’s attractiveness usually does, and his annoyance falls off his face the same way his hand falls to resting back on the table. “Most blossoms work well in anti-aging spells,” Eren explains, smiling fondly at the spot he’s left behind on Levi’s face in a way that erases any thought of removing it in the near future from Levi’s thoughts. “And those creams are my best sellers.”

Levi snorts—it’s been a little surprising how much magic Eren does for profit.

“They’re fleeting, so they don’t work well in much else, although they are very pretty. Sometimes I’ll use them for luck spells, but they don’t have very much magic on their own.”

“So why go through all this trouble, then?” Levi asks, gesturing to the glass bowl halfway full of petals. Eren’s on his third or fourth branch by now, the stripped ones tucked away for some other use that Eren has yet to explain.

“It’s meditative,” Eren hums in response. “It helps me clear my mind and focus.”

Well, Levi can attest to that. Eren had been fucking keyed up when he got there that morning, but his energy has slowly mellowed out over time. There’s some weird shit about magical energy transfers that Eren explained to him once before, although Levi forgets the details of it now. He’ll have to ask again one day.

“Plus, it’s always good to have a supply. You can only get fruit blossoms a few weeks out of the year, and then you have to wait. Like I said, they’re fleeting… Which makes them perfect for candles. It helps draw out the magic a little longer.” Eren smiles softly and resumes his work, his dark hands peppered with peach blossoms. “Besides, I’ve always found them charming. Even if they don’t have much magic in them, I always try to find a way to use them just because I like looking at them.”

Levi rolls his eyes, casually picking up a few of the petals on his own fingers. They’re such delicate little things, and he thinks of seeing them trodden into sidewalks and streets, and cluttered in gutters, and blanketing grassy lots like a springtime snow. Charming is a good word for them.

Silently, he reaches across the table, pressing his fingers to Eren’s cheek and startling him enough that he drops the branch he’s working on and it makes a rough sound against the table. The contrast of the white petals to Eren’s darker skin is breathtaking.

It reminds Levi of a deer.

“Now we match,” Eren says on a laugh, and Levi fondly rolls his eyes, resting his chin in his palm and no doubt adding more doe freckles to his own face.

“You never told me,” Levi starts, eyes tracking Eren’s movements, “what peach blossoms mean.”

Eren nods, agreeing with that, and Levi is startled to see that he’s finished the branch and is setting it on a shelf below, with the others. He pulls out another, and Levi thinks that perhaps he doesn’t plan on telling Levi today.

And also that he should grab a book, because as much as he enjoys this, the hypnotic motion of Eren’s hands will probably put him to sleep soon.

But before Levi can excuse himself, and before Eren plucks a single blossom, he wraps his petal-stained hand around Levi’s wrist with a smile.

“It means—” his voice comes out as a whisper, and he leans across the workbench, drawing Levi the smallest bit closer in the same motion. Despite how softly he’s talking, how much distance is still between them, Levi feels as if Eren is _right_ there, lips brushing against Levi’s ear as he speaks, and a shiver crawls up his spine at a rate much slower than any shiver has the right to go. “ _I am your captive_.”

Eren’s smile lifts one corner of his mouth up slightly higher, and Levi’s throat suddenly feels very dry. Eren gives one final squeeze of his wrist, the moment shattering as he runs a hand through his hair to push it from his face before he starts his work anew. He’s quite a sight, with little peach blossoms stuck to his cheek, freckled through his hair, and patterned over his hands and up to his elbows.

He’s beautiful.

And as Levi watches him, he can’t help but wonder what other sorts of magic hides inside the tiny peach blossoms.

**Author's Note:**

> [read, reblog, & like on tumblr](http://missmichellebelle.tumblr.com/post/144098199010/the-peculiar-procural-of-blossoms)


End file.
